The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1887-04-14
The InstalIment Plan.

| The installment Plan.
''Do you suffer much IN your busi-
ness from the tricks OF swindleTs, pro-
fessIonal OF otherwise?" asked re-
| porter Of member of a leading firm
Of furniture-dealers in this city lately
No, we do not, to any but a very
small extent, > was the reply. cat one
time we did experience frequent and
rather heavy losses, but we have so
perfected our system now that we are
practically safe.
s'How is that?''
ttWen, do you see that box there9"
pointing to all office at the end of the
| store. 'FThe men there are specially
employed as detectives, to make in
quiries about would-be purchasers, who
want furniture on the instaIlment sys-
TEN and look after our interests where
goods have been thus obtained, and 1
venture to say that they equal in ability
Pinkertons detectives or anv others
you could name. The thing is done in
this way. A man comes in and wants
sou or $500 worth of furniture, paving
a small sum down and the rest month
". We inquire OF him what is his
position, what are his prospects, his
family embarrassments and so forth.
Ii his replies are satisfactory, we take
his deposit. But before the furniture
Is put III one OF our detectives goes
around and takes care to verify all the
stranger : statements. He does this in
quiet. practical way, never using the
trm name, OF course, and going about
it in such a manner that the customer,
if everything is all right. will never
hear that any inquiries have been
made. But if the story told Us. proves
in any way incorrect. we apprise the
customer of what We have learned, and
ask him to explain the facts In nine
eases out of ten nS explanation is
offered: he calls. or more usually sends,
for his deposit. and there is an end
of it.
I'VE keep detailed account of all
the people who have ever dealt with
us, with notes as to their financial con-
dition, and when we have once found
them trustworthy We are always ready
to deal with them again. This an
swers very well in general. but we had
narrow escape quite recently. A
man named jackson asked for heavy
consignment. and referred us to our
books. where we found thai he dealt
with us some time ago, and was mark
ed AL. We We're upon the point of
letting him have The goods without
further question. but the character and
quality of the order did not seem quite
10 tally with his profession. Inquiries
were made ut the address he had given,
and the interesting fact was speedily
developed that, although the name and
initials were the same, he was a totally
different man from the one we had
previously dealt with. 1t was. in fact,
Il very clever case of personation. In
answer to our written query of Why
is this" he sent woman To get his de-
posit, and We heard no more OF him.
A man came here only week or
two ago, seemed quite a gentleman,
and talked very plausibly. He wanted
US to furnish house for him, and he
would give us his note for the cash.
When we declined he offered to get the
note indorsed by well-known city
man who is good for $500. 900. To
that We replied that he could borrow
the money from his hacker at 10 per
cent, as We would allow him so much
off the price for cash. But he didn't
feel equal to that, and went o, yes,
We get lots of folk in here, every day,
almost, who think they can trick
US, and who misrepresent themselves,
but they never do much good. What
class trouble us most in this way?
Well, the people who want to seem
much bigger than they are, and, of all
other folks, I must say the LAWYERS are
most given to it,
s'No, we have no detective bureau"
said a member of another large firm.
eve should need small army if We
oLce began that. We are not often
bitten, either, and don't care to talk
about our losses when we are. We
had one big loss some time back, when
we put several thousand dollars worth
of stuff into & house on the west side.
1t was all shipped off to St Louis the
night before the first payment fell due,
and sold, some OF it there, and some in
Cincinnati and Chicago. We after
ward found out that the same folks
had played similar game elsewhere,
but we never caught them. We can
generally size man up before we have
talked TO him ten minutes, and as we
never let any furniture pass out of our
hands unpaid for unless we are quite
satisfied, YOU can see that we are
pretty safe ''-NstC York Commercial
.4drertiSer.